Action, Energy, Speed and Spectacle: Klaus Wagger’s Automotive Art

Klaus Wagger’s automobile art has energy, spectacle, passion and a gripping aesthetic to match the mighty classic racecars that are his subject. It’s magnificent, and you have to check it out.

“I grew up in the Austrian Tirol, surrounded by mountains, cows and a surprisingly active motorsport scene which included F1 drivers Gerhard Berger, Karl Wendlinger and local hero Franz Albert, who always seemed to run the noisiest and most exotic cars.” – Klaus Wagger

Graduating with a degree in Industrial Design, Klaus began his working career as a freelance designer and technical illustrator. He’s a creative man, however, and industrial design and technical illustration are precise, ordered fields. So he began painting race cars in his spare time to let his creative spirit run free.

In 2000 he entered a competition to design a poster for the Mille Miglia, and took first prize. Since then he’s gone from strength to strength, exhibiting his art everywhere from Bescia, where the Mille Miglia traditionally starts and finishes, to Paris Retromobile, the Goodwood Revival and Festival of Speed, the Silverstone classic and now at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance as a member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society.

“I want to capture the drama of the car, the noise and the speed.” – Klaus Wagger

Klaus’ work is expressive and abstract in approach, focusing on bold colours and lines to capture and express the sensory overload of a race car at full flight; it’s about speed, sound and energy. It’s also grounded and balanced, thanks to his clear technical skill and mastery of proportion and composition.